With AnimeExpo over for the 2011 calendar year, our stomachs filled with sushi and Pocky, and we get used to the jet lag after getting back to our respective time zones, reflecting on this year’s four-day event comes naturally. Without a doubt, I have to say that AX2011 was an experience in all things Vocaloid. Read what our editors and blog followers had to say about the events after the break.

Day 0:

THE CARS! Toyota had two Mikunopolis Corollas, each with different, gorgeous paint jobs with official art for the CorollaMiku project. They actually had two pairs of them, one for the front entrance, and a pair outside the Mikunopolis Concert. (For another pair of images, go to the Corolla Miku article.)

I also managed to find two official AX cars with the flyer graphics painted on them.

Day 1:

I spent most of my morning standing in line to get my 4-day pass, and then in the ticket line to get Mikunopolis tickets. Fortunately, and to our great surprise, there were still some seats left available for purchase at the convention, and the final person of our four-person party without a ticket managed to get one. That took us through from 8 AM to nearly 11 AM. Talk about exhausting. SeyrenLK (the famed MikuPa Concert Uploader) had a similar experience in his line-waiting video on Day 2.

At 2:30, I made my way to the Miku Keynote. Danny Choo started out with a strange and honestly childish catch phrase “Miku-san magi tenshi” or “Miku is truly an angel” justifying the phrase because LA is the City of Angels, but that didn’t really justify the silliness to me. Crypton President Itoh was there to present to us a crash course in the history of Vocaloid, and how the business model of their products work, including a brief inclusion of KarenT and Piapro. Itoh-san revealed his next big piece of the business model, Mikubook.com, which launched that same day. Itoh described it as a new way to connect to new works linked to Vocaloid. It is in its “Very Early Beta” (Alpha?) stage, however he encouraged as many people as possible to join in and add their input. He also mentioned that there would be some information about Miku’s English version during the Miku Conference. That announcement is what made me miss the Last Exile premiere. There was a Q&A session afterwards, however I didn’t stay for that, as I was late to get in line for the next panel, which was…

The MikuMikuDance Workshop. The line was insanely long, and it took forever to get in. The reason for that was the Miku Keynote had run over an hour, and they didn’t have a translator for the key speakers. Also, because it started late, I had to leave early to get to the Nirgilis concert (was great by the way), but what I stayed for was so worthwhile. The key speakers were Seppen and Brother, two of the best MMD-Ps in the industry. When I heard that Brother was sitting there, my jaw completely dropped to the floor. Brother’s melody.exe was the video that brought me into the Vocaloid craze in the first place. They introduced MMD, including the full intro video included in the software (subbed of course) and then MMD CUP VII, encouraging any and all English MMD users to submit before the deadline, before going into the basics of the program itself, and how to obtain it. This is where I had to leave, forcing me to miss a new MMD-PV by Brother for Miku’s Heart Shooter. Thanks to my good friends on Youtube for bringing it to my attention.

ZANEEDS set at the All Age Dance at Club Nokia was… when I was asleep. I was so exhausted by the day’s events that the dance just slipped away past my eyelids. For what I saw of Club Nokia during the Nirgilis concert, it was a great dance setup, however their camera and food-nazi rules, plus their $3 Popcorn and $8 Beers, sort of hinder the mood. My buddy RemiliaScarlet went, and thoroughly enjoyed himself. Later on, ZANEEDS said it was their first time doing a DJ gig in America, and had a lot of fun.

Day 2:

The Miku Conference was possibly more packed than the Miku Keynote on Day 1. Once again, Danny Choo did that dumb catch phrase again. Koboyashi-san revealed that he was on staff for Mikunopolis, which they said some English Miku samples would be played at. They also had a new demo of KAITO Append, which revealed that you could create a Kaiko voice much easier than the original. When asked if they were going to bring KAITO Append to the US, the answer was “Wow, that’s a scary question.” We did get some hope, however, that there may be a KAITO English edition, since he studies American jazz, and is therefore fluent in English. Sadly, the panel was cut short to avoid the fiasco that happened the day before, and we couldn’t ask questions. So much for inquiring about CV04.

The Vocaloid Cosplay meetup that happened just before the conference sort of fell flat from a V-ism standpoint. Apparently one of us… *glares at descent* doesn’t recognize an iNSaNiTY Kaito cosplay when he’s right in front of him! Anyway, I did manage to get in as a part of the KAITO set in the cosplay photos. Hopefully we’ll get a huge set of cosplay photos together on the forum. If so, I’ll link it as soon as it’s ready.

Of course, the big pull of the night was Mikunopolis. There were at least three news trucks sitting outside the theater as we lined up a half hour beforehand to go in. I was seated in the far right section, one section away from the giant boom camera that was recording for NND. That boom camera went LOW! As acoustic and jazz renditions of Vocaloid songs echoed, we took our seats, and that annoying Danny Choo showed up again trying to convince people to say “Miku magi tenshi” three times, only to bring out DANCEROID for a warmup. The two girls did a good job with First Kiss and Luka Luka Night Fever, however the real highlight of their stagetime was the surprise dance for Lots of Laugh (LoL), with of course a plug by Danny Choo of their new DVD. That was followed by another set of renditions as they finished seating, and a BS statement that Miku was camerashy, so no filming please!

The show started out with the CorollaMiku commercial that started the campaign before all awesomeness broke loose. The energy was palpable as Project Diva Desu began, followed by World is Mine. The new string section was a great addition to the band, sitting next to Jun Abe, however I felt there were too many strings, and they could have easily cut the section in half and still gotten the proper energy out of it. The glowsticks were flying in rhythm, and everyone from 20 rows back and the balcony were on their feet cheering with each track. And with every new costume, and there were 12 of them, the cheers got even louder. Though everyone was too hoarse and tired at the end to make a uniform chant for an encore, everyone voiced their opinion, and indeed she did come back for three more songs, including Ai Kotoba and The First Sound. It was an experience I’ll never forget. I realize my description hardly covers the entire event, but I wanted it to be short, because we have so many other V-ism con-goers that wanted to weigh in.

Day 3:

The Vocaloid Fan Phenomenon… was a giant disappointment. I don’t know who that guy was that was dressed in Reimu Touhou cosplay, or what he had to do with Vocaloid in general, but two things were obvious to me. 1. Everyone was fooled into thinking he was a girl. Pulled off the trappiest trap of trapdom. 2. This was not an official panel, and was just the opinions of one person. I didn’t last 30 seconds. Did anyone actually stay at this panel that wants to tell me what happened?

Afterwards I walked the dealer’s hall for a bit, swinging by the Mikunopolis booth again, only to find Hachi and Wowaka signing autographs. Unfortunately my timing was so bad that I found this out within two minutes of them packing up for the day, and I didn’t get a single bit of ink from them. I know some of our V-ism congoers managed to get signed. I consider them the lucky ones.

That being said, Mirai no Niero: Sounds of the Future, was the most rewarding panel of the convention by far. This three-hour panel hardly even had a line, which was a stunner to me, plus they had a door prize raffle where you scanned your badges to be entered. This was apparently the second time a Mirai no Niero was held at AnimeExpo. Last year they had a shorter one, so the first thing they did was similar. Cosplayers of Miku, Rin, and Len, came out to play the parts of the characters “defying the conventions of technology to be here today.” I learned later that they were actually congoers that fit the part, so they were asked to perform the script as the characters. I had thought they had a few too many questions about the script. That being said, they had the most gorgeous Rin I have ever seen.

The first half of the panel was showing different PVs from several artists and composers, and their messages to the fans at AnimeExpo. This included some World Premiere videos that had yet to be posted anywhere on the internet, including: A debut MMD-PV of Strobe Last by masatakaP; an internationally-safe version of kagomeP’s Innocent Girl (Working Man replaced with giant stuffed Panda, yeah it’s ok to laugh); and two unfinished Anime versions of Daughter/Servant of Evil and World is Mine (the latter being kind of raunchy).

The second half introduced the guest VocaloPs: Penguin’s Project; sunzriver; and ZANEEDS (piperP). Each one had a new video to introduce to America in their World Premiere: Galopagos (feat Ritsuka’s artistry); Boring Bowling; and The Socialist/Social Darling respectively. Each spawned a great reaction from the audience, with some funny laugh-out-loud moments, but everyone appreciating the work with great applause. Another surprise guest was the artist who drew the intro movie to the panel, who had a booth at Artist Alley, but was too shy to show her face. Finally the creator of the Vocaloid engine itself, Ideki Kenmochi, straight from Yamaha came out as the final surprise guest to give a live demonstration as to how the engine works, and even made Sweet Ann sing Happy Birthday. By far, this was the most fun I had at a panel, and I hope to see it again next year, maybe with even more VocaloPs as guests. I wrote down samfree and Deco*27 on my input card, so if others did the same, maybe they’ll invite them next year. I dunno.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience that I’m glad I participated in. Though I felt that Danny Choo’s presence at the convention was more of a detriment than a compliment, there was so much to keep a Vocaloid fan’s interest that I could have spent two extra days taking it all in. I haven’t even mentioned the massiveness Exhibit Hall and Artist Alley. I’m going back to relive a few of those moments again. To Vocaloid fans the world over, have a good night knowing that the industry we love is still going on strong.

29 thoughts on “The Vocaloid Experience at Anime Expo 2011”

Thanks for the report Red 🙂 regarding "the creator of the Vocaloid engine" I think you can credit him by his name: Ideki Kenmochi, it's totally his style to have Sweet Ann sing an happy birthday to a guy in the audience 😀
[youtube C_t80z46tzc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_t80z46tzc youtube]

Interesting, didn't know they presented it in France last month. For those who can't understand Japanese nor French (a lot of you), it is a pretty normal introduction to Vocaloid. I was impressed by the quality of the first sample (the opera). At one point, Ideki Kenmochi mention that Vocaloid exists in English and Japanese, but that it will be available in other languages (and with them in France, most likely French will be one of them). I saw a few examples on Youtube of French Vocaloid song attempts. It's less difficult to pronounce than English so quite promising. (Note : the "guy in the audience" is a woman named Florence :p)

It wasn't the last day, it was Day 3. If it was the last day, I wouldn't have gotten autographs either, since I had to leave at like 10 AM to catch my flight home.

The whole autograph thing was a mess anyway, though, because it was originally SUPPOSED to be on day 2 (they had signs up at the Mikunopolis booth and everything), and for some reason, hachi and wowaka couldn't make it then. So it was pushed to day 3.

Ah well. I may have had rotten luck with the Miku nendoroids, but at least I got my autographs. =D

Anyone know where I can get the English version of Worlds End Dancehall that was played at the concert? The crowd (and I) were too loud and I couldn't make out the lyrics. The NND stream wasn't much better.

Great read! I'm especially appreciative of the coverage and impressions of the Vocaloid events that I unfortunately missed.

It pains me to see so many people who found Danny Choo annoying, because I thought he was a pretty swell fella. On the other hand, I also feel like I'm the only person in the world who found the Vocaloid "roleplayers" at Sound of the Future annoying. I forgive them now that they were just congoers, but man they really made it hard to sit through the first half of the panel at the time.

And you missing out on Hachi and wowaka was balanced out by me missing ink from ZANEEDS and sunzriver… I think! （ ´∀｀）

Is very sad that you didn't attend the Vocaloid fan panel. Does it being hosted by a fan mean it is any less notable? Is Vocaloidism official? Should I ignore vocaloidism because it doesn't (I think) have sponsorship from Crypton? Is the whole Vocaloid phenomenon a top down production company driven endeavor, with companies and not fans the source of its popularity?
A bit confused how the title "The Fan Phenomenon" should not be given by a fan. Also, how it is a disappointment without you even listening to more than 30 seconds of it.

Mr. Chou, if that is how you wish to be identified, I only recently made the connection that it was actually you who were running that panel that day, and despite your many points, my opinion remained unchanged. First off, I will say congratulations on pulling a trap on the audience, it was well executed, and though I didn’t find it that funny, a majority of the people did.
As to the reason the panel was not to my personal liking, it would be prudent to point out that as far as I could find in the documentation for the convention, there was absolutely no description as to what would be occurring. Additionally, it took me approximately 20 minutes and a call to the AX Admins to even find the line for the panel. Now, considering all the trouble I went through to get in, and all of the official Vocaloid panels throughout the convention, you can imagine my disappointment in finding out that this was not an official panel. In addition, the only stage presence was yourself, and in your cosplay outfit, it was very difficult to take you seriously. Your initial description and introduction of the panel did not give me any input as to who you were or what connection you have to Vocaloid, and I did not have an internet-capable phone available to look you up and find out just who you were. Your description of the panel led me to believe that it would be the opinions of just one person, yourself. If perhaps there were multiple speakers present, either collectively or separately sharing their opinions about the Vocaloid Fandom, I think there would have been more of a draw. However as it was, I could not make a connection between the panel and myself. I realized I would not enjoy it, so I left. However, it was only because I left that I found Hachi and Wowaka signing autographs at the Mikunopolis booth, therefore I became more informed than I would have been than remaining there. I did ask if anyone stayed for your panel to weigh in their opinions on it, as this was supposed to be an overall Vocaloidism report, not an individual one, but I was unable to find anyone who had.

I can respect your right to defending your work, and I am sure you prepared long and hard for your presentation, however you cannot expect to appeal to everyone. I was in that minority, and my opinion on the panel reflected that. I hope you can respect my right to defend my work in saying that you have no right to condemn the article as a whole because it reflected badly on your panel, which only took up one paragraph of a dozen. You may dislike what I say about it, but if you cannot use people’s criticisms to assist in improving your future works, you may have difficulty later on in life. If there is one piece of criticism that I would like you to take, it is this: I felt a distinct disconnect and lack of professionalism, partially because of my inability to learn about the panel before entering it, and partially because there was only one person on stage without any introduction to himself, reporting his own opinions while I was asking myself “Who is this guy? I’ve never heard of him before in my life.” Assuming you will be presenting at AX2012, I look forward to seeing your panel improve greatly from AX2011’s.

Again, my stance remains unchanged, and I actually believe my leaving your panel early was to my and the other readers’ benefit, as I found out about more Vocaloid-related events that were going on in the same time slot. I respect your right to defend your work, and I have exercised my right in defending mine in return. You may take what I have said as you see fit, however please note that I hold no malice towards you for expressing your opinion, and I hope the same will be reciprocated.

Is very sad that you didn't attend the Vocaloid fan panel. Does it being hosted by a fan mean it is any less notable? Is Vocaloidism official? Should I ignore vocaloidism because it doesn't (I think) have sponsorship from Crypton? Is the whole Vocaloid phenomenon a top down production company driven endeavor, with companies and not fans the source of its popularity?